Christos Anviat

First, Christos is whatever you want but not the Romanian name of our Lord, which is HRISTOS (Iisus Hristos)

The English term relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring.

Today, Orthodox Christians call this holiday the Pasch (as in paschal lamb - Pasti -plural - in Romanian), which is the Greek word for Passover. In Anglican churches, the designation Sunday of the Resurrection is often preferred over Easter and in Lutheran liturgy, it is called The Resurrection of Our Lord.

Roughly speaking, the western Church consists of Protestants, Catholics, and Anglicans. The Eastern Church consists of the Eastern Orthodox churches (most of them autocephalous, including the Romanian Orthodox Church), the Oriental Orthodox churches, and the eastern-rite churches affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Orthodox have a solemn procession at midnight, before Matins, during which they sing at the door of the church, repeating after each verse the Easter antiphon. When the procession leaves, the church is dark; when it returns, hundreds of candles and coloured lamps are lit to represent the splendour of Christ\'s Resurrection. After Lauds, all those who are present give each other the Easter kiss, not excluding even the beggar. One says: \"Christ is risen= HRISTOS A INVIAT\"; the other answers: \"He is truly risen= ADEVARAT A INVIAT\"; and these words are the Eastern Churches\' greeting during Easter time.

A similar custom had, through the influence of the Byzantine court, been adopted at Rome for a time. The greeting was, Surrexit Dominus vere; R. Et apparuit Simoni.

Tradition is observed in Romania although most of the people no longer are true believers. However, they greet each other with the above every time they meet during the first three days of the octave (and some, fewer and fewer, the forty days till the Ascension). (late, but i\'ve just rad your mesage. dradum